Semiconductor circuits are composed of a regular arrangement of atoms, usually silicon. In semiconductors, the arrangement of the atoms are often in a lattice or mesh arrangement and the electrons and the holes created by the lack of electrons are free to move within planes of the lattice. As semiconductor devices become smaller and smaller, fewer and fewer atoms are used to create an electronic device. Transistors of semiconductor materials often store sufficient charge to create digital information by storing a 0 or a 1 state depending upon the threshold voltage of the transistor.
The primary component of nature is space and so there is mostly space between the atoms in a semiconductor lattice. Also, as in all of nature, space is not quiet but rather active with high energetic particles including heavy ions and cosmic rays from solar or galactic origins moving about, colliding, transferring energy. These particles and/or rays collide with atoms in the semiconductor lattice and through elastic, inelastic collisions, and/or field interactions between the energetic particles and the atoms and/or electrons in the lattice, the atoms and/or electrons in the lattice may either change energy and/or position such that the electronic state of the semiconductor device is no longer reliable. For instance, when the intruding particle is near a p-n junction, it may induce a soft error, or single-event upset because of the excess electron-hole pairs generated. If the electromagnetic field in the neighborhood of the p-n junction is sufficiently strong, the charged electrons and holes separate to a nearby device contact and when or if the collected charge exceeds a critical threshold value, a random signal is registered. This is not an unusual occurrence. The Van Allen belt is a small region of high-energy particles held captive by the magnetic influence of the Earth approximately 4000 miles or so above the Earth's surface. The Van Allen belt consists mainly of high-energy protons, ten to fifty million electron volts (10-50 MeV), that are by-product of cosmic radiation. The probability of a nuclear hit between an energetic neutron interacting with a silicon large scale integrated (LSI) circuit is one out of 40,000 incident neutrons will interact within 10 microns of the circuit; further calculations reveal that at sea level almost every silicon-neutron hit within one micron of a LSI circuit results in a soft error of single-event upset. During a quiet sun period, the primary flux of particles averages seventy percent protons and thirty percent neutrons, but during an active sun period the number of solar particles hitting the outer atmosphere increases a millionfold, and is larger than the flux of intragalactic cosmic rays. Thus, soft-errors or single event upsets are a real concern for satellites and satellite-based communications and technology.
A single event upset (SEU) is defined by NASA as radiation-induced errors in microelectronic circuits caused when charged particles lose energy by ionizing the medium through which they pass, leaving behind a wake of electron-hole pairs. SEUs are transient soft errors and are non-destructive. A reset or rewriting of the device results in normal device behavior thereafter. SEUs typically appear as transient pulses in logic or support circuitry, or as bit flips in memory cells or registers. A multiple-bit SEU occurs when a single ion hits two or more bits causing simultaneous errors. Multiple-bit SEU is a problem for single-bit error detection and correction where it is impossible to assign bits within a word to different chips, such a dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) and certain static random access memories (SRAMs). A severe SEU is the single-event functional interrupt in which an SEU in the device=s control circuitry places the device into a test mode, halt, or undefined state.
A single event latchup (SEL) is a condition that causes loss of device functionality because of a single-event induced current state. SELs are hard errors, and may cause permanent damage to the device. SEL results in a high operating current above the device specification and the latched condition can destroy the device, drag down the bus voltage, or damage the power supply. An SEL can be cleared by a power off-on reset or power strobing of the device, but if the power is not removed quickly, catastrophic failure may occur because of excessive heat, or metallization or bond failure.
Single event burnout (SEB) is a more severe condition that causes device destruction because of high currents in a power transistor. SEBs include burnout of power MOSFETs, gate rupture, frozen bits, and noise in charge-coupled devices. An SEB can be triggered in a power MOSFET biased in the OFF state when a heavy ion passing through deposits enough charge to turn the device on. SEBs can also occur in bipolar junction transistors.
The trend towards reducing device size and power; increasing the line resolution, memory, and speed of electronic devices only heighten SEU susceptibility. Integrated circuits already include electrostatic discharge networks, the purpose of which is to dissipate any static electricity or other high voltage problems during manufacturing, construction, handling, shipping, etc. In space, however, ESD networks actually create problems and concerns, especially when the ESD networks are between the power rails, because of the shorting and physical damage as presented above when bombarded by particles and/or cosmic rays in space. Bipolar circuits in electronic space applications have a high probability of being hit by a cosmic ray and therefore require high reliability. This invention addresses the need to create reliable ESD networks for space applications.